the breast by a piece of shell, and in
falling almost knocked the Barrington boy out of his saddle. There was
no time to be frightened or to think of lending a helping hand to his
injured comrade, for the line in the rear was coming on, yelling like
mad, and anything that opposed its progress would have been run down;
anything, perhaps, except that well-managed battery on their right,
whose steady, merciless fire was more than living men could endure. They
broke and fled, and were not called into action again that day; for when
Siegel, finding that he could not take the town, withdrew from the field
for the purpose of effecting a junction with another Union force
stationed at Mount Vernon, midway between Carthage and Springfield, the
road he followed led through thick woods in which mounted troops could
not operate. Here the Union commander, aided by his superior artillery
and long range rifles, held his own until darkness came on and the
Confederates retreated. It was a drawn battle. The Confederates did not
dare renew the attack, and Siegel was afraid to hold the field long
enough to give his weary troops a chance to rest. He marched all night
and reached his destination the next day.

[Illustration: THE CHARGE OF THE RANGERS.]

When the orderly sergeant of Rodney's company came to make out his
report, he found that there were six men missing out of seventy-three.
One out of twelve was not a severe loss for an hour's fight (when
Picket's five thousand made their useless charge at Gettysburg they lost
seven men out of every nine), but it was enough to show Rodney that
there was a dread reality in war. He told Dick Graham that as long as he
lived he would never forget the expression that came upon the face of
the comrade who fell at his side, the first man he had ever seen killed.
He did not want to go to sleep that night, for fear that he would see
that face again in his dreams.

"They say a fellow gets over feeling so after a while," was the way in
which Dick sought to comfort and encourage him. "But I'll tell you
what's a fact: I don't believe that a man in full possession of his
senses can ever go into action without being afraid."

General Lyon's advance troops having been forced to retreat, the boys
began to wonder what was to be the next thing on the programme, and it
was not long before they found out. Notwithstanding the confident
prediction of the captain who commanded the scouting party that had
rescued h